Ma’achil R’eivim - It is a Mitzvah to Feed the Hungry

As we move into the dark of December, illuminated by the Chanukah lights, many are busy with holiday plans, galas, and all the festivities that go along with them.  We often worry this time of year about increasing waistlines, indigestion, and the diet and exercise program we will reluctantly start on January 1st.  Yet, while so many are celebrating, while we enjoy the parties and the delicacies, the 2010 Hunger in America Study by Feeding America shows that the demand for food assistance by Hoosier families is increasing. 

In a recent interview, Katy Bunder, the Executive Director of Food Finders, reported that: “The demand this past year has been nearly overwhelming. We hear more and more that people in our service area are suffering. Kids are going to bed hungry, families have no money for food after paying utilities and rent and seniors are having to choose to buy medication or to eat. We just believe there is more we can do.”

“Local statistics indicate that Food Finders serves an estimated 10,000 different clients per week in programs throughout the mid north Indiana service area.  The survey samples also indicate that 33.9 % of all households seeking food assistance have at least one adult working.  27% of all adults had lost their jobs in the previous 11 months. Women comprise 64.3% of all clients at program sites and 43.1% of the households served have children younger than 18 years of age.  In addition, results also show that 99% of clients have a place to prepare meals and more than half live in traditional households.  99% of clients at emergency food programs are US citizens and 73% of emergency food clients in Food Finders service areregistered voters. More than 50% of clients reported having very low food security which indicates one or more members either skip meals or experience increased hunger due to a lack of adequate resources for food.”

There are many organizations that help to fight hunger, and I encourage you to continue to support organizations that you have donated to in the past.  Locally we have several food drives each year to support Food Finders.  You can make donations of either foodstuffs or monetary donations: Food Finders Food Bank, Inc., 50 Olympia Ct., Lafayette, In 47909-5182 or donate online.

Nationally, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger is a national nonprofit organization that allocates donations from the Jewish community to prevent and alleviate hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds.

Each year, MAZON ( Hebrew for “sustenance”) grants over $4 million to more than 300 carefully screened hunger-relief agencies, including emergency food providers, food banks, multi-service organizations and advocacy groups that seek long-term solutions to the hunger problem. Many Jews now honor the Jewish tradition of not eating until you have provided for the poor by donating at least 3% of the cost of their life-cycle celebrations – weddings, bar mitzvahs, anniversaries, etc. Donate at: MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, PO Box 894765  Los Angeles, CA 90189-4765 or online.

Our tradition teaches that we are to say a blessing (HaMotzi) before we eat a meal, and then to say a blessing (Birkat HaMazon) after we have eaten.  Our sages asked, why is it necessary to recite a blessing after the meal when we have already thanked God for our food before the meal?  We are taught that when we are hungry it is easy to be thankful for food.  It is when we have been satisfied that is easy to take sustenance for granted and when we have finished eating that it is even more difficult to remember to be grateful.  May we learn that sustenance is not something to be taken for granted, and may we help in being God’s partner by seeing to it that those in need know the feeling of a full stomach, rather than the pangs of hunger.